News

A photonic endoscope to improve the colon cancer diagnosis

Last 18th and 19th January, the Jesús Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre attended the kick of meeting of the European project “Multimodal highly-sensitive PhotonICs endoscope for improved in-vivo COLOn Cancer diagnosis and clinical decision support” (PICCOLO, the English abbreviation), held in Bilbao.

This project proposes a new compact, hybrid and multimodal photonics endoscope based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Multi-Photon Tomography (MPT) combined with fluorescence technology.
Colorectal cancer represents around one tenth of all cancers worldwide. Early and accurate diagnosis and precise intervention can increase cure rate up to 90%.

The multidisciplinary team, composed by Tecnalia Foundation, the project coordinator, and other eight European partnerscoming from Italy, UK, Ireland, Germanyand Spain, joins to work together in this ambitious project, financed by the UE Horizon2020 Programme. PICCOLO is focused to develop an innovative endoscope that will provide gastroenterologists immediate and detailed in situ identification of colorectal neoplastic lesions and facilitate accurate and reliable diagnostics.

The consortium comprises the whole value chain including pre-clinical and clinical partners, technology providers, photonics SMEs and endoscopy market Leader Company.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation Programmeunder Grant Agreement No. 732111.

This information reflects only the institution’s view, so the Agencies and the Commission are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Nanbiosis - A photonic endoscope to improve the colon cancer diagnosis

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Nanomedicine in B·Debate Fighting Blindness by Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS

The recent published Newsletter of Institut of Màcula and the Barcelona Màcula Foundation: Research for Vision reported about the forum B·Debate Fighting Blindness. Future Challenges and Opportunities for Visual Restoration, September 6-7 , that gathered more than thirty experts in the different areas related with blindness.

The second Session, about Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, was chaired by Jose Luis Pedraz, Scientific Director of Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS and Gustavo Puras Ochoa, researcher of the group Nanobiocel, which coordinates Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS gave a lecture “Non-viral gene delivery for the treatment of inherited retinal disorders” :

Many devastating blinding disorders that affect the retina in the developed world have a well-known genetic background. Despite gene therapy strategies have made major advances in recent years, many of the patients affected by inherited retinal diseases must live under impaired vision, even with the best medical treatment. Therefore, the development of effective gene carriers represents a major challenge for the scientific community. At present, viral and non-viral vectors are the most employed approaches to deliver genetic material to the retina. Although first promising clinical trials results with viral vectors offer reasonable hope to patients affected by some inherited diseases that cause irreversible blindness such as Retinitis Pigmentosa, Stargardt´s disease, Choroideremia and Age related Macular Degeneration, important concerns related to the risk of oncogenesis, immunogenicity, inflammatory responses, and the persistence of viral vectors in brain after intravitreal injection have garnered the interest to invest on non-viral gene transfer methods. Compared with their counterparts, non-viral vectors offer many important advantages, since are less limited by the size of the gene to transfect, do not raise major safety concerns, are easier and cheaper to produce, and are classified as drugs rather than as biologist by the regulatory authorities.

Nanomedicine in B·Debate Fighting Blindness by Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS

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Multifunctional biomaterials and nanomaterials: the new technological revolution.

CaixaForum Zaragoza, Wednesday, January 18th, 2017 at 7:00 pm: talk by Jesús Santamaría, Scientific Director of Unit 9 of NANBIOSIS, within the Conference Cycle: Technology, the permanent revolution

Nanotechnology is the application of nanoscience and, in its modern conception, implies having the ability to design nanomaterials for a specific purpose and to control the manufacturing processes that allow them to have the desired characteristics (composition, size, shape, surface characteristics).

This talk presents the developments in nanotechnology as a true technological revolution. The general concepts and the influence of nanotechnology in our lives shall be discussed with examples of recent advances, with special emphasis on those obtained in the Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon and Unit 9 of NANBIOSIS including with applications in the field of nanomedicine.

Multifunctional biomaterials and nanomaterials

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Ramón Martínez, Scientific Director of Unit 26 of NANBIOSIS Co-leads the development of nanodevices to detect the presence of cocaine

Researchers of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) and CIBER of Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) have developed new nanodevices to detect the presence of cocaine in saliva or in any another aqueous solution. Part of the characterization of the probe was carried out using NMR facilities from NANBIOSIS. The paper is published in the journal Scientific Reports, of the group Nature.

The development consists of a molecular gate designed with nanoporous alumina, an aluminum oxide prepared by electrochemical means with pores of micrometric diameter. “A molecular gate -explains Ramón Martínez-Máñez, scientific director of Unit 26 of NANBIOSIS- is a mechanism in which its state (open or closed) can be controlled at will by external stimuli, in this case the presence of cocaine. The main novelty with respect to other detection systems is the use of porous alumina plates that are easy to use and reusable for other sensors”.

This new intelligent nanodispositive lays the groundwork for the use of porous alumina in the development of molecular gates for the detection of chemical and biological compounds with applications in fields such as health and the environment.

Article of reference:

Molecular gated nanoporous anodic alumina for the detection of cocaine Àngela Ribes, Elisabet Xifré -Pérez, Elena Aznar, Félix Sancenón, Teresa Pardo, Lluís F. Marsal & Ramόn Martínez-Máñez.Scientific Reports, 6 (December 2016)

Nanbiosis U26 - ribes y martinez-manez development of nanodevices to detect the presence of cocaine

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Micro and nano capsules that will increase the effectiveness and precision of medicine.

José Luis Pedraz, Scientific Director of Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS and members of NANOBIOCEL group, which coordinates Unit 10 of NANBIOSIS, explain for the TEKNOPOLIS program of EiTB, the first communication group in the Basque Country, the development of micro and nanocapsules, gels and scaffolds to solve the problems of administration of new drugs.

The new active principles – says Pedraz – that have emerged in recent years from studies of genetic engineering, the production of recombinant proteins and others, have generated new molecules whose characteristics are very different from the conventional active ingredients of chemical synthesis and have raised a series of problems with their administration that do not solve the classic pharmaceutical formulas of the type of tablets, capsules or injectables, this is the reason why it is necessary to develop new systems of administration based on micro and nano technologies that can be administered in a correct and efficient way for patients. These devices can be used for transplantation and treatment of different diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer or Diabetes.

Nanbiosis U10 Micro and nano capsules that will increase the effectiveness and precision of medicine.

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EIT Health Spain awards the best innovation and entrepreneurship projects

Elisabeth Engel, Scientific Director of Unit 5 of NANBIOSIS, has received an award at EIT Health Spain event held this month at the PCB, Barcelona. The awards have been organized by the Spanish node during 2016 and are part of the financing initiatives of the EIT Health accelerator.

Professor Engel participated in the category of ‘Proof of Concept (PoC)” that recognises projects and business ideas that are in stages prior to the creation of the company and projects that are participating in acceleration programs in health. Elisabeth won a prize funded with 25.000 € for Dermoglass, the smart dressing for the treatment of chronic wounds. Dermoglass is a novel and biodegradable nanotechnology-based wound dressing that is able to stimulate the re-vascularisation of the affected area. The restored blood supply promotes the arrival of oxygen, nutrients and new cells, leading to the repair of damaged tissue and healed wounds.

EIT Health Spain awards the best innovation and entrepreneurship projects

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Validation of a drug for foot ulcers in collaboration with Cuba

Nanomol, (Unit 6 of NANBIOSIS) has announced in Cuba that the process of clinical validation of a new drug developed and patented in collaboration with Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Cuba, integrated in BioCubaFarma, has been initiated. The new drug is designed to improve the healing of foot ulcer in diabetics and could be on the market in five years.

The collaboration of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of Cuba with Nanomol, coordinating group of Unit 6 of NANBIOSIS, began in 2010. Cuban researchers had developed an effective product in wound healing in diabetics but the product had to be Administered with injections in the affected area. Nanomol obtained a nanoformulation with which it is possible to integrate the protein in a nanovesícula, so that the active principle of its degradation is protected once it is applied in the wound and, in addition, is obtained that the protein is released of suitable form. The results of the work have resulted in a patent and currently the process of validation and scaling of pharmaceutical production is being carried out to bring the product to market.

U6 of NANBIOSIS has played an important role in the development of this potential nanomedicine since it enabled a detailed characterization of several physico-chemical properties of the multifunctional nanovesicles used to construct it.

Validation of a drug for foot ulcers in collaboration with Cuba

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NANBIOSIS lecturers in B-Debate Imaging for Life. From Molecules to Diagnostics and Therapy

Last November took place in CosmoCaixa, Barcelona, the B-Debate Days Imaging for Life. Molecules from Diagnostics and Therapy.

The event, organized by B·Debate (an initiative of Biocat and “la Caixa” Foundation), IBB and LJS, was focussed on Biomolecular Imaging, with emphasis on molecular, cellular, tissular and small animal research, as well as biomedical applications, including noninvasive diagnostics, image guided surgery, multimodal imaging and theranostics.

Scientists of NANBIOIS Unit 20 and 25 were invited to participate as guest lecturers:

-Simó Schwartz, Scientific Director of Unit 20: New bioluminescent models to target cancer stem cells with nanomedicine.

-Ana Paula Candiota, Scientific Coordinator of Unit 25: Unravelling therapy response in preclinical glioblastoma using MRSI-based molecular imaging and source analysis.

As Professor Candiota explained “Characterization of Glioblastoma (GB) response to treatment is a key factor for improving patient survival and prognosis. Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopic Imaging (MRI/MRSI) provide morphologic and metabolic profiles of GB but usually fail to produce unequivocal surrogate biomarkers of response. Ideally, we would like to provide clinicians with early therapy response follow-up and an improved time frame for changing or adapting therapy schemes”. Her talk focussed in the capability of advanced pattern recognition techniques, such as semi-supervised signal source extraction, to produce nosological images with robust recognition of response to temozolomide (TMZ) in preclinical GB (GL261 tumour-bearing in immunocompetent C57BL/6 mice) through the information contained in MRSI grids. These techniques have a clear translational potential and could improve future patient management and care. The acquisition of mice MRSI data used for pattern recognition strategies development and evaluation was performed in the Biospec 7T scanner from U25.

NANBIOSIS lecturers in B-Debate Imaging for Life. From Molecules to Diagnostics and Therapy

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Extraordinary doctoral award

Anton Guimerà Brunet, member of the GBIO group that coordinates Unit 8 of NANBIOSIS, has obtained the extraordinary doctoral award from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for his thesis “Novel methods and tools for corneal barrier function assessment through non-invasive impedance measurements”. This thesis was directed by Rosa Villa, Scientific Director of Unit 8 of NANBIOSIS.

The thesis covers aspects of basic research as applied, reaching the transference to the biomedical industrial sector and solving a need in the ophthalmological diagnosis to be able to quantify the degree of corneal permeability. This innovation also includes the development of a flexible microsystem made with microelectronic manufacturing techniques.

Extraordinary doctoral award to Anton Guimerà Brunet

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Laura Lechuga received the Physics, Innovation and Technology Prize

On December 14th, the Physics Awards ceremony was held at the BBVA Foundation’s headquarters, organized by the Spanish Royal Society of Physics (RSEF) and the BBVA Foundation, that each year select the most relevant achievements of Spanish physics. On this occasion the achievements of nanoscience have been recognized and it has been highlighted the power of physics to expand the territory of the known universe and the role of scientists as a core element of social progress.

Professor Laura Lechuga, Scientific Director of Unit 4 of NANBIOSIS received the Physics, Innovation and Technology Prize was the only woman awarded.

Lechuga is a pioneer in Spain in the development of biosensors, devices that integrate in very little volume the analytical capacity of a laboratory, so they have the theoretical potential to revolutionize many technological areas that have a direct impact on society, from medical diagnosis to control of contaminants in the environment. The award winner works on two prototypes of nanophotonic biosensors to detect colon cancer and tuberculosis: “The future of immediate diagnosis goes through such devices, low cost and very high sensitivity, installed in mobile phones, which could be easily used also in regions in development” says professor Lechuga.

Laura Lechuga received the Physics, Innovation and Technology Prize

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